


The Cabin on the left

by Tea_is_Not_Them



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: (lovingly), Fluff, Gen, Martin Blackwood is a bastard, Monster Fluff, Monster Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Monster Martin Blackwood, Moth Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, POV Outsider, but they fixed it, in a different way ya feel, sorta - Freeform, the Apocalypse happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:07:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28519098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea_is_Not_Them/pseuds/Tea_is_Not_Them
Summary: A seemingly alone man named Martin Blackwood moves into town, but it seems that he's not quite as alone as people think.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 14
Kudos: 150





	The Cabin on the left

**Author's Note:**

> Monster Jon is my lifeblood i cannot help it. 
> 
> Insta: tea_is_not_them  
> tumblr: tea-is-not-them  
> tiktok: teaismothman

When someone moves into a small town, they usually become a very hot topic of conversation. It’s like when youtubers go crazy, you talk about it for a while, and whenever you see them you think in the back of your mind about the gossip about them, or the tea if you want to get hip with the kids. When the person who moves in is seemingly alone, well people talk, and small towns are nosy. They have nothing else to do but talk. 

This being said, _Martin Blackwood_ was an enigma to the people of this small town. He had moved into the small unused cabin that had been a bit of a fixer upper for years, it had stayed vacant until he came along and bought it, and started restoring it in the short weeks he had spent there. 

Martin was a pleasant man, but he did tend to give people a cold shoulder if they asked about his past.

He was a strange man though, with white hair and even paler eyes, his freckles stood out on his slightly ashen skin. Like smatterings of stars on a dark canvas. He would have fit right in, with his sweaters and kindly old, but not quite actually old look. It was more of his vibes and not his actual appearance. He carried himself like a man that had seen it all, and found it extremely amusing but a bit lacking.

Now that wasn’t the reason he had been the center of attention -- well it was a little because of that-- but there was something else. Two of the resident night hikers, a college kid about age 23 named Henry and his friend say that they saw something strange behind his home in the middle of the night. 

  
  


\---------

  
  


The air is fresh and clear and the moon is bright enough to make a clear path. It’s a perfect night to go hiking, especially if you like to go stargazing with a friend. Trees made dark shadows from the beautiful white light from above, but the path was easy, one that the hikers could do with their eyes closed, if needed to. A well traversed road.

The problem that Henry and Zach have, is that they are looking at something through the trees. They hadn’t gone far enough to be out of the town completely, but they were near the outskirts, where the cabin now owned by the newest citizen sat, like a lighthouse of the rolling hills. It was mostly normal, they had only given in a glance, but something drew them to look in-between the trees, and into the dark yard of Martin Blackwood. 

There was a garden, it was lush and verdant in the sunlight; now it just grew shrouded, creating a lonely island of flowers that usually were a lovely color, but looked to be a sickly dull light grey in the moonlight. But it wasn’t anything to actually think about, not something that would keep their attention for too long, a man’s garden is his own business.

That was until they saw the sickly emerald green glow near the edge of the yard, something was prowling, but they could only see the glint of it’s eyes. Henry and Zach stop in their tracks, not yet sure of what they were seeing. 

It moves gracefully until it’s closer to the cabin, and they can see its multitudes of eyes, green and black and grey; regular pupils and goat pupils and split iris’s, snake eyes, and coloboma. Several sets of wings reaching only a smidge higher than the thing itself, delicate as a moths yet larger than a moth should ever be. The creature had a fuzzy layer around its neck, its head full of unruly looking hair and two stalks on it’s head that could only be compared to a snail’s eyes.

It was watching, gliding through the darkness as if not having to walk nor prowl. The college hikers have a sudden onset of fear for the home owner’s health, if that thing came any closer to him.

Maybe that was why the cabin stayed empty?

They watched in frozen fear as the thing slowly creeped closer. The unthinkable happens, something that startles then. The back door to the cabin opens, and out walks Martin Blackwood. His white hair shines in the moonlight, and he is faced away from them so they cannot see his face, and yet they want to yell at him to go back inside. 

Instead they are still watching and watching, becasue they do not want to draw attention to themselves.

Martin closes the door behind him, and the thing comes ever closer. Finally they are sure he sees the monster, but instead of terror, the new man in town simply walked over. His face is finally in their view and he is smiling. 

“Hello love.” Martin says to the monster, and the monster lets out a noise that is a mix of a purr and a whirring record player. They can hear the voices drift over the landscape as if their whispers were yells, the noises magnified just for the two of them to hear.

“Martin.” It’s voice is impossibly posh, and it’s small but sharp hands come up to caress the man’s face softly. The voice was undeniable masculine, but Henry had made a habit of not associating something with a gender since his friend Ami came out. 

Martin smiles even wider, “I’ve been lonely.”

“I always come back.” The monster says back, an undercurrent of love in the voice that emitted from the creature of terror. 

Finally Henry and Zach unfreeze and find their limbs moving them away from the monster and the new comer in town. 

  
  
  


\--------

  
  


Henry’s mother had invited him to the town’s get together, to have tea with their neighbors and such. Henry’s mother failed to tell him that this was also a ploy to get to know the new man in town, because ‘he looked so lonely up in that cabin alone, Henry.’ and ‘you should really give him a chance, it’s not everyday we have someone new.’

It vividly reminds Henry of the man’s words, and the answering ones that night. He and Zach had run to their families in hysterics, but no one had really listened to them ad chalked it up to seeing something scary in the woods while hiking, and well they were a little right. Though seeing a wild cat is very different from seeing a weird eldritch thing galivanting with the new man in town like they were flirtacious young lovers. Which is gross, to both of them. 

So the get together had a few people everyone knew, and Martin arrives only five minutes late. He smiles and waves at people, friendly as can be. Plenty of people have a conversation with him, before he is pulled away by the person who invited him.

Zach and Henry are put on edge immediately, and Martin sits down when told to taking his tea cup with ease that spoke of many days dealing with etiquette. He listens dutifully to stories told to him, a look of interest that seems so genuine. 

“So Martin, what did you do before moving here?” Zach’s mother, Lilith, asks kindly. She takes a sip of tea from her small cup. 

“I worked at an archive, archival assistant.” He dances admirably around solid answers, humming after his words.

Lilith doesn’t seem to notice as they continue, “So are you enjoying the cabin?”

“Ah yes, after a bit of fixing it’s lovely. Forgot how nice it was to be able to paint the walls I live in.” Martin says just the right amount of pleasant and disinterested.

Henry and Zach listen carefully to all the questions being asked, the idea slowly brewing in their skulls much like the tea everyone was drinking, before finally Henry chimes into the conversation, “Do you have a partner?”

Lilith looks at them like they were asking something untoward, about to scold her adult son, before that actually gets a reaction from the newcomer. One other than vague discomfort, or maybe something other than that. it was well hidden in his defense.

Martin looks up at them, and catches their eyes, they never noticed how cloudy his seem until now when they sparked with a slight bit of joy, “Yes actually. He’s usually away, but I do have a partner, he overworks himself though. Business trips you know?”

Lilith smiles, “Oh would you like to talk about him? He sounds nice to have caught your eye, how long have you been together?”

This brings a bit of a happier set to the man, “He’s lovely, the most unique and beautiful person I’ve ever met. We met at work, he was even my boss for a little bit. We've only started dating two or so years ago though.” he says this conspiritally before laughing about some arbitrary issue.

Zach’s mother nods, “Ooh that's cute. That's how I feel about my husband as well.”

“That’s nice, it’s always nice to have someone with you. Loneliness doesn’t quite nip at the heels with someone who loves you.” Martin says this as if he has a personal inside joke that he shares with himself and himself alone.

“He sounds good for you,” Lilith responds, “maybe you should bring him around sometime. I'm sure he'd be lovely if you're with him.”

Martin hummed again, taking a sip of his tea as well, “Yes well. He likes to keep away from people seeing him, pretty shy you know.”

The rest of the conversation still goes on as avoidant answers, and secrets that still were not solved. They still can’t find out anything about the monster boyfriend, because they know that that is exactly who Martin is talking about. As Martin gets up to leave though, he makes very direct eye contact with Henry and Zach and smiles. 

Something in that smile said he knew, a spark of amusement behind his eyes. 

He knew.

  
  
  


\-------------

  
  


Jon purrs into Martin’s neck with amusement in his voice, clawed little hands holding softly to his partner's jumper, “You are mean.”

“I get it from you Jon. I’ve hung around you too much.”

“No you’re a bastard no matter what you say, and I love you for it.” He responds, fluttering his wings and leaving bits of papery scales on the floor. Martin snorts and softly headbutts Jon.

“Yes I suppose you’re right, though I thought it would be a bit quieter in a small town.” Martin hums, before smiling faux innocent, “Suppose I forgot that nosy people exist.”

Jon looks at him, with a face that says he know exactly what Martin is inferring, and he plays along, “How strange Martin, people gossip about you! I thought everyone stayed in their own business.”

The white haired man snorted, “Oh yes, obviously they do.”

Jon’s laugh rumbled in his chest, vibrating both of them with his amusement. Martin feels soft and comfortable here, his back against a thrifted old couch that he had chosen over a new one, with all of Peter Lukas’s money at his fingertips he had wanted something homey, Peter would have hated it. On his front he has a lapful of a giant cat of a boyfriend, weighing on him a little more than he did before the whole mess had changed him completely. 

Still, despite the weird habits they both have to keep now, it’s worth it for the world to be safe again, and for them to be together again. Even if Martin gets cold, even if Jon still has to feed, at least they are happy, at least the world is no longer hell. 

“Would you like some tea Jon?”

“Of course.”

They would be ok, and if they were monsters, they were monster together.


End file.
